How do future heart cells move in the embryo, and how can this go wrong?

BMP and Wnt signalling crosstalk regulates cardiac progenitor cell migration - investigating novel effector genes (Miss Sophie Stephenson)

In the UK, 12 babies are born each day with a heart defect. These can range from mild to life-threatening, with some children needing repeated heart operations. Thankfully, due in part to BHF-funded research, doctors now know a lot about the heart’s intricate anatomy and treatments are often very effective. But surgeries can be traumatic, and some conditions have long-term health consequences. It’s vital that we discover how to prevent or cure heart defects before birth. Professor Munsterberg and her team study where the cells that make the heart come from, and how they travel to the right location in the embryo. To do this, they use early chick embryos, which are surprisingly similar to human embryos at these stages. Using high powered microscopes they’ve shown that future heart cells migrate a long distance towards the area of the embryo where the heart is formed. They identified some molecules that guide the future heart cells to the correct location. Now they plan to find out how these molecules work together as to find their way. Investigating heart development in this way will tell us more about how heart defects arise and how they may be avoided.